Ohio GOP gave Petro $380K; Blackwell got zip

Courtesy of The Enquirer, I learned yesterday that a nonpartisan voter education group called Ohio Citizen Action released a report analyzing all of the fundraising by Ohio gubernatorial candidates in 2005. I read the report …

… and found some very newsworthy nuggets of information. For starters, here are the top five contributors to Ken Blackwell and Jim Petro:

J. Kenneth Blackwell

Jim Petro

R + L Carriers $80,500

HSR Business to Business $61,380

Ladd Industries $55,000

American Trim LLC $40,020

Security National Holding Company $30,000

Ohio Republican State and Central Executive Committee $380,313

Citizens for Heimlich $57,717

Roetzel & Andress $51,650

Altair Engineering $35,000

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs $30,950

— O.C.A report, page 13

Notice Petro’s most generous friend? That $380K by itself amounts to 22% of his fundraising in 2005. That doesn’t include his contributions from county parties, candidate committees, and political action committees. Keep reading.
Next is a look at the candidates’ fundraising among small donors:

Candidate

Number of Contributions from individuals less than $200

Percentage of Contributions from
individuals less than $200

Number of Contributions from individuals $200 & more

Percentage of Contributions from individuals $200 & more

Total

Blackwell

14,310

90.3%

1,537

9.7%

15,847

Petro

1,819

49.3%

1,869

50.7%

3,688

Strickland

4,800

72.0%

1,867

28.0%

6,667

Flannery

230

83.0%

47

17.0%

277

Total

21,159

79.9%

5,320

20.1%

26,479

Blackwell received a surprising 14,310 contributions from small donors. Ninety percent of his contributions from individuals were small, grassroots donations (less than $200). His opponent in the primary provides a striking contrast. Petro received only half of his contributions from small donors. All the candidates received at least half of their contributions from small donors. Eighty percent of the total contributions from individuals were in amounts less than $200.

— O.C.A report, pages 5-6

Again, it’s obvious that Blackwell enjoys great support among the grassroots of the Republican base. Petro gets much more support from bigger donors … like the state party.
Finally, the real attention-getter. Look who gets the lion’s share of Ohio Republican Party money:

Total Amount from Political Party, Candidate Committees, and Leadership PAC

Candidate

Dollar Amount

Blackwell

$9,875

Petro

$467,419

Strickland

$114,115

Flannery

$100

Total

$591,509

Petro received 79% of the total amount of contributions to gubernatorial candidates from political party, candidate committees, and leadership PACs. Blackwell only received contributions from 11 candidate committees. He did not receive contributions from any Republican Party or candidate committees for statewide office.

— O.C.A report, page 7(emphasis added)

The primary election’s on May 2nd, Jim Petro’s gotten every advantage an establishment candidate could hope for, and Ken Blackwell’s still out in front. Watch for desperate viciousness from the Petro camp in the next few weeks.More blogging:Newshound